Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,765 shares of the data storage provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,213 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Western Digital were worth $1,873,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sfmg LLC purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,026,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $216,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Western Digital by 72.0% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,585 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 1,082 shares during the period. Finally, PFS Partners LLC bought a new stake in Western Digital during the fourth quarter worth $220,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 30,958 shares in the company, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at $1,434,604.55. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.25% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Western Digital Price Performance

NASDAQ:WDC opened at $67.05 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. Western Digital Co. has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $76.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $63.90 and its 200 day moving average is $54.40.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.30) by $0.61. Western Digital had a negative return on equity of 19.45% and a negative net margin of 19.90%. The company had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.69) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Western Digital Co. will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WDC. Mizuho lifted their price target on Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Rosenblatt Securities upgraded Western Digital from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Western Digital from $75.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Western Digital from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.72.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.